UConn, Tennessee outdistancing pack

Women's Notebook

This was a season that seemed to hold the promise of a wide open race for the national championship. All that has happened instead is that No. 1 Connecticut and No. 2 Tennessee have separated themselves from the rest of the pack as they approach their Jan. 5 meeting in Knoxville, Tenn.

The latest example of that came on a neutral court in Atlanta on Thursday, when Tennessee rolled past No. 9 Duke 89-68, holding the Blue Devils to 34 percent shooting.

Tennessee has defeated three other opponents ranked in the top 10 when they met: No. 5 Louisiana Tech (90-75), No. 6 Stanford (68-62) and No. 8 North Carolina State (93-56). The Lady Vols also own an 88-57 victory over George Washington, which was ranked 22nd at the time.

Connecticut, with 11 of its first 12 games in Storrs or Hartford, also has been impressive. The Huskies' closest game was an 86-72 victory over then-No. 3 Oklahoma in Hartford.

UConn also has a 19-point win over No. 3 Vanderbilt and a 24-point victory over Louisiana Tech. The Huskies' average victory margin is 37.8.

Once Tennessee is out of the way, Connecticut might go awhile before being challenged again. The Huskies will have only Big East opponents remaining and no one else from that league is in the Top 25. They could be on quite a roll heading into the NCAA tournament.

Tennessee has a much tougher road. The Lady Vols have two games each with Vanderbilt, No. 16 Florida and No. 19 Auburn, and one each with No. 10 Georgia, No. 17 South Carolina and No. 21 LSU. And if that's not enough, there are non-conference games with No. 22 Texas and No. 23 Old Dominion.

In a zone

As successful as he has been, Vanderbilt coach Jim Foster never has thought he had all the answers.

That's why his players have become accustomed to seeing their coach call on the expertise of others, whether it be Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, having WNBA guard Debbie Black on the staff or, most recently, a visit by former NBA coach Don Casey.

Casey, who has coached the Los Angeles Clippers and New Jersey Nets, attended two recent Vanderbilt practices to help the third-ranked Commodores with their zone defense.

As a high school coach in Philadelphia in the 1960s, Casey often talked about zone defense with Penn's Jack McCloskey and Temple's Larry Litwiler. He took those concepts to the New Jersey high school ranks and then to Temple, where he was head coach for nine seasons.

Foster, who also has Philadelphia roots, wanted to expose his team to some new ideas.

''We've always challenged our kids with different looks,'' he said. ''There are a lot of different ways to do things. I just feel comfortable being able to exchange philosophical thoughts with someone that's been studying it for a long time."

Road weary

Northern Iowa might need some time to get used to its surroundings when it plays Illinois State on Jan. 4. That will be the Panthers' first home game this season.

Northern Iowa is playing its first 13 games on the road. By the time that stretch ends, the Panthers will have traveled nearly 9,500 miles, mostly by bus. They will have played in Tennessee, Kansas, Minnesota, Arkansas, Missouri and Wisconsin -- plus Puerto Rico.

The closest thing to a home game was a Dec. 22 trip to No. 5 Iowa State, which beat the Panthers 95-55.

It's been especially taxing on leading scorer Amy Swisher, who is diabetic.

''She's really struggling with that,'' coach Tony DiCecco said. ''One thing a diabetic needs is to have a routine schedule. When you're on the road 23 of 28 days, that doesn't lend itself to a routine schedule.''

Home bodies

Defending national champion Notre Dame already has lost more games than it did all last season, but one thing hasn't changed for the Irish: they're still winning at home.

Notre Dame has the nation's longest homecourt winning streak at 43. In its latest victory at the Joyce Center, Notre Dame held Marquette to 18 percent shooting in winning 60-33.

The Irish haven't lost at home since falling to Connecticut 106-81 on Dec. 8, 1998. Since the 1995-96 season, Notre Dame is 81-4 at home. Connecticut has handed the Irish three of those losses. The other was to Wisconsin.